The Rangers lost their third shootout of the season, falling 4-3 to Colorado on Thursday. New York fell behind 1-0 and 2-1 but rallied to take a 3-2 lead before allowing the tying goal in the third. The overtime was relatively nondescript until late, when the Mats Zuccarello beat Semyon Varlamov but the Erik Johnson swept the puck out of the crease and Alex Tanguay hit the post. The Rangers fell 2-1 in the shootout with only Derek Stepan scoring.
Before I get to the game-recap and a few thoughts, let me discuss the prevailing view that New York blew this game. Colorado entered the contest fresh off an embarrassing loss to the Islanders and challenged by coach Patrick Roy to improve their effort. I hearken everyone back to two days ago when the Rangers played Pittsburgh, coming off a lost weekend, including a Sunday contest against Edmonton where their commitment level was challenged. Does that sound familiar? If anyone expected Colorado to be a cake-walk, they don't know sports, are deluding themselves, employing wishful thinking or all of the above.
Now on to the game recap. The Rangers pretty much sleepwalked through the first period and trailed 1-0 after the stanza. Tyson Barrie got a shot on goal that Lundqvist should have just eaten up or kicked it wide, but he left a juicy rebound that Matt Duchene banged home after beating John Moore to the spot. New York upped their effort quotient in the second and Lundqvist kept it 1-0 with several excellent saves the first few minutes of the stanza, at which point the shots were 18-6 Colorado.
The Rangers tied it thanks to patience. Kevin Hayes drew a penalty and with Lundqvist pulled, New York show great patience. Rather than forcing the action, Kevin Klein ragged the puck back into the neutral zone and got t to Matt Hunwick, who his speed to gain the offensive zone down the right side. Hunwick's center pass hit Dominic Moore, went off Varlamov's skate and Hayes banged it home to make it 1-1.
There is a cardinal rule in hockey, if you are going to dive to knock away the puck, you better completely make the play. Colorado made it 2-1 thanks to a partially effective dive. Matt Duchene burst past Marc Staal on a 2-on-2 and Dan Girardi slid across to break up the play, which he did. However, he took out Staal and when Martin St. Louis was late coming back and Staal was off-balance, Erik Johnson got it in front to a wide-open Tanguay, who beat Lundqvist.
Patience was evident on the tying goal. On a 4-on-4, Colorado gave up the puck deep in the Rangers' zone. Stepan and Rick Nash came down 2-on-1 with Nash giving the puck to Stepan early in the neutral zone. Stepan gained the Colorado zone and it looked like he tried to pass it back to Nash but he shanked it. Rather than panicking, Stepan regained control and beat Varlamov with his first of the season to tie it.
After a Colorado penalty ended, the Rangers maintained control of the puck in the Avalanche zone for a total of 1:13. The end result was a nice passing play of John Moore to Mats Zuccarello to Girardi, who got inside position and tipped it home. Girardi's goal was the first by a defenseman not named Kevin Klein. The Rangers started the third well, but a holding call on Jesper Fast gave Colorado a PP and they capitalized when Nathan MacKinnon's shot hit off Girardi's stick and went through Lundqvist's pads.
Remember when a lead entering the third meant a win? Same when the Rangers went to a shootout? Ah, for those halcyon days. New York lost a 3-2 lead in the third and then fell in the shootout. AV decided to shake things up and go second, after losing twice in a row at home when going first. Good idea, bad execution. MacKinnon showed tremendous hands to give Avalanche a 1-0 lead. Zucc tried to shoot quickly five-hole and was stoned. Duchene was stopped by Hank and Stepan made a nice move and beat Varly top-shelf. Tanguay out waited Lundqvist, which is something yo almost never see, and was able to score in the empty net. One shooter left. Rick Nash? No. Martin St. Louis? No. Chris Kreider? No. Derick Brassard? No. It was Lee Stempniak, who isn't bad, but not who you would expect to be the third shooter and he was stoned by Varlamov to end the game.
The good news from the game included: Stepan showing signs of really finding his game. In addition, Hayes looks more and more comfortable and has earned a spot. Dan Boyle has some rust to scrape off but he has a veteran's patience and you see how good he is running a power play. The bad news included the blown coverages by Moore and Staal leading to goals. The slow start and at times uneven play coming off an emotional win bothered me a bit. I expected a slight drop side it wasn't an division rival but the first period was in stark contrast to Tuesday's win. Losing an extra point for the third time in a relatively short span of time was other bothersome and you hope these "blown" chances at an extra point and loss of ROW don't burn New York down the road.
The Rangers now head to Pittsburgh to face a Penguins team that will be looking for revenge after falling 5-0 on Tuesday. If we all thought heading into Tuesday, New York was in a tough spot, Saturday makes that thought look mild by comparison. After that game, a red-hot Tampa squad with all those familiar faces invade MSG on Monday.